They were built in the 1920s as homes for wealthy New Yorkers of that era, including Vincent Astor, Clarence Dillon and George Whitney.

[note 1] In 1980, all four houses were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as intact surviving examples of high-style townhouses for affluent homebuyers of that time period.

It is a four-story, four-bay building of brick laid in Flemish bond with marble trim topped by a pediment that hides the attic.

Its most notable feature is a central projecting semicircular marble portico where two fluted Doric columns support an entablature at a string course between the first and second stories.

[1][3] 124 East 80th Street, the Clarence Dillon House, is also a six-story brick building in the Neo-Georgian style.

The entrance, two paneled doors surmounted by a fanlight, is sheltered by a small portico supported by Ionic columns.

The window above echoes the fanlight with a blind arch, and on either side two-story Ionic pilasters support a full entablature with dentil course and four paterae.

[1][5] The block between 79th, 80th, Park and Lexington was first developed in 1870 with a row of 19 three-story brownstones on the north side of 79th, right after the street was built.

The Junior League of New York moved into the Astor House later in the decade, and found it so well maintained it did not need a sprinkler system in the yard.

At the time they were listed on the National Register, in 1980, the Dillon House was owned by Iraq for diplomatic purposes.

[9] Informational notes Citations Media related to East 80th Street Houses at Wikimedia Commons